BUSINESS > Kuruçeşme Arena slated to become Mandarin Oriental

Kuruçeşme Arena, one of the last bastions of open air concerts in Istanbul, has been sold to Astaş Holding, which plans to turn the 15,000 square meter lot into the Mandarin Oriental Hotel. Aştaş will invest $500 million for two new hotels in Istanbul. Hürriyet photo

Astaş Holding has purchased Kuruçeşme Arena and plans to convert it into a luxury hotel.

Astaş Holding Chair Vedat Aşçı said they had been working for two years to try to buy the lot, which sits on one of Istanbul’s most coveted locations in the Kuruçeşme neighborhood on the Bosphorus.

“After a lot of effort, we bought the lot from Asya Dış Ticaret,” said Aşçı. “We will launch the project immediately ... but it might take a few years for the project to come together.” Astaş plans to partner with the Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group to build a hotel on the 15,000-square-meter lot, which will have 200 meters of waterfront view.

Astaş Holding, which has already successfully brought the Mandarin Oriental Hotel to Turkey’s western seaside town of Bodrum, is also conducting feasibility studies for another luxury 100 to 150-room hotel in Istanbul’s historic Sultanahmet neighborhood.

“For the two hotels we will construct in both Kuruçeşme and Sultanahmet, we will invest a total of $500 million,” added Aşçı. Astaş plans another $3 billion in investments in Turkey over the three to four years.

“We have faith in Turkey’s political and economic developments. Even though we get a lot of offers from other countries, we prefer to invest in our own country first,” Aşçı said.